(CNS): The police arrested another ten drivers this weekend in their ongoing traffic enforcement operations aimed at cutting the amount of drunks driving on the roads. Once again, several drivers were found to be behind the wheel while being well over the legal alcohol limit after committing traffic offences, falling asleep in their vehicles and even taking booze into their cars.

“The DUI arrests arising from our ongoing operations underscore just how many people continue to insist on driving under the influence, especially on the weekends,” said Inspector Ian Yearwood from the traffic unit.

“While part of our aim is to catch such individuals before they can cause a tragedy, the only safe solution is for those who drink to simply not drive. That is why we continue to appeal to the public to assist us in making the roads safer by avoiding drinking and driving, and by letting us know when you see someone who chooses to get behind the wheel while clearly intoxicated,” he added.

One of the worst abusers this weekend was a 24-year-old man from East End. Officers on patrol in George Town spotted him coming out of a bar Saturday mid-afternoon with a plastic cup in his hand. Although he appeared unsteady on his feet, he got into a car and tried to drive. The officers immediately stopped him and who subsequently confirmed that the cup contained an alcoholic beverage. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI with a blood alcohol content of 0.174%, as well as on suspicion of driving without accompaniment, driving without insurance, and consuming alcohol in a vehicular conveyance. He is now on police bail.

On Friday at about 11:55pm a car overtook a police patrol vehicle on Bodden Town Road on an unbroken white line. The 45-year-old driver, also from East End, was stopped and breath tested and found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.173%. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI and later bailed.

Then, shortly after 2am on Saturday, officers observed a vehicle that had stopped on South Sound Road. In it they found the driver asleep at the wheel, and when he was woken up he was unsteady on his feet and showed other signs of intoxication. The man, aged 35 of George Town, was arrested suspicion of DUI and was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.219%. He was later bailed.

This is not a good police officer 👮‍♀️ if that was me a police officer I would immediately stop him from entering his vehicle and give him a warning and let him call a family member, let’s say as he move off and kill someone what would we all say?

There’s a simple solution, if Government had the guts to introduce it: mandatory community service orders, failing which jail, for each person caught over the limit. Or even just jail. That would stop it.

It’s Government’s duty to protect its citizens from harm. Driving the roads at night is just too hazardous nowadays. Government MUST do something.

Six months jail, two year ban and property in the car passing to CIG for sale to fund traffic policing. When you are dealing with selfish scumbags who do not care at all for the lives of good people, you need to make it about them before they will act.

Culturally, every single awards banquet, fundraising auction, Rotary/Chamber or work function on the calendar involves a bar, toasts, wine tasting, or complementary drink of some kind. They are the elite drinking clubs. Then, all of those (sometimes hundreds of) over-served “adults”, having been drinking for hours, get in their cars and pilot themselves home so that they have a car to go to work or do the school run the next morning. This includes the Police banquet. Many became so inebriated that they are hungover the next day and barely functional. It’s celebrated with high fives and meat patty runs. Epidemic alcoholism is to blame, along with a regime willing to only make very rare isolated examples with no real deterrent value. Busting banquets is entirely taboo. Until DUI is criminalized, culturally unacceptable, and the RCIPS deploy a regular functional traffic department, DUI bust stats will remain obscure footnote examples, and mostly accidental busts from crash sites. Despite the many past deaths that we haven’t learned from, we’ve only been lucky not to have recorded a road or pedestrian fatality so far this year.

The valet lineup for Kimpton or Ritz bottomless-glass open bar ballroom events often extends down the driveway and around the corner for 30 mins or more. Far too many people that should know better driving to these things. Many are past DUI honourees themselves.

It is illegal to drink alcoholic beverages whilst driving, even if it’s your first drink.It is also illegal to have a open alcohol beverage in your vehicle even just being parked in your car and the engine running.

If you are dumb enough to consume open alcohol as the driver, observing officers will have probable cause to pull you over and breath test you immediately at the roadside. Alcohol in breath is short-lived while actively drinking.

Even with 1/2 a beer, you will almost certainly fail the “1/10 of 1% weight/volume blood alcohol of breath” then and there (which is the max per the Road Code PART 6). That alone could be admissible as your blood alcohol count. You automatically loose $1000+ lawyer fees and impound fee and your license for 12 mos, and possibly jail or more.

If they take you to the station, and make you sit for an hour, or retest, you might be okay, or maybe not, your other plans (if you had any) are definitely blown for those hours, and your vehicle has been impounded. It takes a special kind of stupid to volunteer for all of this extra treatment. You’ve also selfishly distracted all of those cops off the streets where they could have been been protecting the public.

Is it called drink responsibly? No matter what you think this is the social norm in Cayman from all the comments here. The high amount blowing over is very concerning but i’ve seen this article below flowing around the net which if true makes complete sense. Someone else recommended in previous comments they change the intoxylizers to “Lion” brand. The intoxylizers in use are now currently been replaced? which again begs the questions are these intoxylizers out of date and not been operated correctly. Very concerning…heres this article;

1. The intoxylizer only has a one year warranty but the intoxylizer been used in Cayman has been many years in service. The intoxylizer is not even warrantied for any particular service. Crazy hey. Read it here http://www.alcoholtest.com/terms-conditions-sale/
2. Because this machine is redundant they only give one breath test to determine your state. The machine requires/instructors so as to work correctly two breath tests be given which should be close in their results to each other to provide “reliable” test results and also it proves the intoxylizer is actually working correctly at the time of the test. This procedure is not followed to give reliable results???
4. When the breath test is administered police and the operator of the intoxylizer scream and shout at the person to blow harder to get a result. This exercise actually increases the result and is recommend not to be done when operating the intoxylizer.
3. The machine can print out at the time of breath tests it’s calibration state to prove the machine is working properly at the time but this option is turned off on the machine to prove it is working correctly at the time???
4. This machine cannot tell the difference between different alcohols both drink and human produced.

Some of you may hate me but this is serious stuff and it actually may account for these unusual high numbers of DUI’s ? Why isn’t the machine not been used the way it should be for reliable results? It would seem anyone can blow over on this machine even with been careful as there is no accountability with this machine.SO BE CAREFUL.

Good. But most of know this is only a fraction of those driving drunk/impaired. For far too long the Police have been far too inconsistent with traffic law enforcement, which has contributed to many people taking a chance…and another…and on and on. And it’s not just drunk driving but also careless and dangerous driving too!

Agree. Go to the Sister Islands some time; I saw far more than 10 on a Friday night, somehow making it home without killing someone.

There seems to be an unwritten policy in George Town that the RCIP don’t stake out popular watering holes to look for those who appear unable to drive as they walk to their cars. I would be in favor of detaining them, and allowing those folks to call someone. Arrest if they persist in wanting to drive.

Arresting is one thing. What is the punishment? In the US, if you blow over the legal limit, you may lose your license while pending court charges. Yes – presumed guilty. If convicted, you can also have a vehicle interlock system installed, which requires you to blow into the device to start your car.

You can blow over the limit even if you haven’t drank any alcohol. That is the case with anyone who is suffering from low blood sugar or following a Keto diet. Only the blood alcohol test reveals that there is no alcohol in the person’s system. Presumed guilty is also a very dark road to head down.

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